30 May 2018 07:22pm, by YorkshireSquare

Victor Orta’s transfer policy last season may have seemed like a bit of a gamble. Some signings worked out, some (Ok many of them) didn’t work out at all. But that is true just as much for the individual players as it is the football club. With so many signings in similar positions it’s guaranteed that many of the signings would not see much first team football.

This is certainly true for Mateusz Klich, limited minutes on the pitch for Leeds last season but he did get a chance to prove himself on loan at FC Utrecht. Klich greatly impressed at the Dutch club. In 13 appearances he averaged 44.7 passes per game, 1.8 key passes per game with a pass accuracy rating of 84.3%. He will certainly be in contention for a place in the Leeds team next season now.

The same cannot be said of Yosuke Ideguchi who gambled his World Cup chances with a move to Leeds United. Ideguchi may have gambled his world cup chances and you can have a flutter too with the best world cup betting offers to be found. Since his debut for Japan in 2016, Ideguchi has been instrumental in his country’s fortunes. No less so when he scored the second goal in the 2-0 win over Australia that sealed Japan’s place in the 2018 World Cup in Russia. But he wanted to play at a higher level and experience football outside of Japan, the move to Leeds was his opportunity but it was a bit of a gamble.

Ideguchi was not to see any football at Leeds United last season, instead he was immediately sent out on loan to Spanish side Cultural Leonesa. After only one start and four substitute appearances he has not featured since February and his World Cup chances seemed to have faded away. His lack of first team football had seen him left out of Japan’s squads this year by former manager Vahid Halilhodzic. But Ideguchi was still philosophical about the situation;

My goal is not just the World Cup, the most important thing is to play abroad until I retire."I was asked the move many times, but last year I fought with the world's top countries such as Brazil and Belgium, and I felt the difference between playing with adults and children.

It was great that I thought that I could grow in the J League but when I returned, if I'm honest, play was odd, I couldn't feel like I could do my best in Japan after I had experienced that level.

Honestly, when I first became a professional, even though I played in the J League, there were parts of me that felt good with playing in Japan for a long time, but after I came back from international duty I didn't feel like that. That's when I knew I had to go abroad.

But he may have been handed a lifeline having been included in Japan's 27 man preliminary squad by new manager Akira Nishino. Who knows, the gamble may yet have paid off!